Audio quality ? do Hackintoshs match real macs?

I have been struggling with the audio quality of my hackintosh for over a year now... Something just doesn't sound right at all.

I have tried everything from kexts and untouched appleHDA .... To buying a usb Sound interface (scarlett 6i6 gen 2)... new motherboards (Currently have a Asus Z170 Deluxe) , new mics (Both usb and through the XLR inputs) Yeti pro.... ST55 through Scarlett.... And even went and bought a Shure SM7B yesterday.... still the same thing ..

i7 6700 , 32 DDR 4 3200mhz , tripple monitor set up with 1tb Samsung SSD drive. with Gtx 1080.. Which I'm hoping would be considered enough to do what I am trying to do..

I can Try to explain the best that I can...

For my work i record tons of Parody songs for an adult based radio show that we do online...

Editing is a breeze and a dream come true on this Hackintosh... thats never been the issue... Effects load up quick and never have any Issues with running out of ram while recording or what not


The issue that i am seeming to have is that the quality of the Audio seems to be suffering..


best way that i explain this is as if when trying to Record vocals to a Karaoke track (downloading the mp4 file from youtube and importing it into GarageBand....Logic Pro x...) I am able to pick effects and everything else thats normal..

but it always seems like the vocals always get lower and the range in which the mic channel kicks in starts to mess up..

its either you have to be singing very loud or you have to be very low... almost like its missing the between.. if that makes sense...

I have been going crazy over this for a very long time before seeing that this forums has a section like this for people like us that create music and so on, on our hacks

I do have an issue that I'm hearing where there is Static coming from my rokit 8 Monitors... but I'm not sure if that would be Something causing this at all...

This is more like the quality of the vocals i used to Make when i had an iMac seems like it was better?

So Does a Hacks audio compare to lets say a normal mac? I would think that it could right ? I am using a USB sound device and not even messing with injecting audio Stuff on clover or anything like that...

best way almost to explain it is that it sounds like when trying to Record vocals to music in any of the software... its almost like there is too much Going on and it starts to Sound messy or too low in the vocals or the range of whats coming through the mic sounds like a band filter is on so to say ...

Some suggestions that might help. Make sure the samples/bit depth match between your interface and DAW. If the manufacturer of your interface provides a driver make sure you are using it over CoreAudio. To increase headroom record in 24 bits and set your mic level so it is peaking at -12 (lower for more room). Mix to around -18db RMS, peaks at -6db.

There is no difference in audio quality between Apple and non-apple or Windows.

im glad to hear you say there are no differences between apple and Windows... So there must be something wrong here..

Its a Scarlett 6i6 2nd gen...

I don't think there is a driver for it ??

just sounds like your trying to play too much at one time if that makes sense.. where as before it would sound like the vocals were part of the music playing

vintendo said:

I don't think there is a driver for it ??

Click to expand...

Is this it?

vintendo said:

just sounds like your trying to play too much at one time if that makes sense.. where as before it would sound like the vocals were part of the music playing

Click to expand...

If the settings in the Focusrite app match the DAW, and the MP4 you are importing has been re-sampled to match those same settings i don't know what software problem could be causing this, given it has occurred with different combinations of hardware and software.

Your best bet is to follow the signal path from microphone to disk and then monitoring and check all settings are correct and DAW and interface are not conflicting some way.

Get in touch with an audio pro shop and let them sort you out for a fee. Don't ask your cousin who fixed your fridge by tapping it on the side for help.
There's no technical difference between a hack and a real Apple or PC, it's just the skill of the operator. My Metric Halo ULN-8 sounds 100% the same on Mac or Hack.

zipb said:

it's just the skill of the operator

Click to expand...

Yes, you can't polish a turd...

The thing is that i am not 100% noob to all this by any means... Its strange cause its starting to worry me if its my ears and I'm getting old lol or if its something going on here..

The best way to explain it is if I do a run down of what I normally do for work (again we record parody songs from time to time)

I will Download a karaoke or instrumental track from youtube.... then I will import the video directly into lets say Logic or Garageband ... When I have the song running in Browser before downloading and i have live input on in my DAW... Everything sounds normal... the vocals and the effects on the vocals all mix in well with the song thats playing in Safari on youtube....

but the moment i download it and then import it..... It sounds like everything is drowning everything out.... Same Effects on the vocals... nothing as changed.... but it just Sounds like there is too much going on and not enough channels for everything to pass through... idk

its almost like all the effects on the vocal tracks almost go away.. you can barely hear them.... and then the vocals have no range... you can be singing.... and its as if you have to be super loud or you have to be at about medium... or your voice in Full range will not be picked up... its like a non stop noise filter is on or something.. but its not .. I have checked everything and nothing is on...

Then while mixing the tracks with what Gets recorded.... I can get it to sound much better.... but then what I hear inside of the Software such as Logic or Garageband .... Sounds so much better then what i am left with when I render it to lets say uncompressed AIFF or even the highest setting For mp3...

Having a home stupid has been a dream of mine for over 20 years and I was finally able to work my ass off to afford all the stuff i bought... I like to think i did not go cheap by any means in all of this.... but yet its not coming out how I think it should sound...

if maybe one of you guys that understands the whole Hackintosh 100% and bonus sound creation on one.... I would be glad to PayPal you some money and give access to team Viewer just to look over everything ... cause then at least I know its hardware or something ... (my ears?)


Thank you again for your time Guys.. I know its a bitch trying to answer someone Like they are 3 years old...but i assure you that i am 9 years old at least and can learn very fast lol

no but really thank you in advance